Women of Letters
by geronimaia
Summary: This story follows the Women of Letters: Jodie Mills, Charlie Bradbury, Linda Tran, Krissy Chambers and Annie Hawkins, in their attempt to rid Sioux Falls of a wannabe Chicago Monster Mafia. I have tweaked the story so it isn't exactly as the show is currently, aka. I'm still in denial about Charlie.
1. Phone Call

"Kevin! Don't you dare run into the veil, being dead is not an excuse for this behaviour young man!" screamed Linda Tran.

After her son was killed by Gadriel almost one year ago, being held hostage by the King of Hell and being saved by two men who had both been to hell, getting used to a life living with a ghost for a son was not out of the ordinary. However, she was not going to deal with his attitude under any circumstances.

"Mom, I am a grown man, you cannot tell me what I can and cannot do! I was a Prophet of the Lord for crying out loud!" a voice from behind Linda shouted.

Linda spun around to see her son Kevin shimmer into this world, looking pale and unearthly. She felt a pang of sadness as she remembered her son as a bright boy with hopes and dreams and a solid place at one of America's top Universities. All that was gone now.

She unconsciously raised her hand to the ring around her neck. The ring that was the thing keeping her son from disappearing from her. Not that he had anywhere to go, now that heaven was shut off and the war for ruling hell was going on below them. She closed her eyes briefly and sighed,

"Listen. I have been without you for long enough, and possibly not much longer if those two boys get heaven open for business again." she said.

"What makes you think I'll go to Heaven?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief,

"You think Crowley would dare take you, knowing we've got the Winchesters protecting us?"

"You never know with that son of a-"

Kevin was cut off mid sentence as the sound of phone ringing echoed through the house towards them. Just like that Kevin disappeared into a haze and reappeared not 5 seconds later with the still ringing phone in his hand, holding it out to his mother.

"Looks like those Winchesters made a mess again." Kevin said slyly with a half smile.

Linda felt a surge of excitement through her body and dropped her hand away from the ring around her neck and snatched the phone from her dead son's hand. She brushed through his hand slightly, to which Kevin sniggered. She was used to that now. She hit the answer button with force and turned away from her son,

"Hello, Jodie?"

"No, it's Krissy, Jodie is...a little indisposed at the moment." a voice said.

Linda's voice darkened,

"What do you mean 'indisposed'?"

With perfect timing, a crash could be heard down the line and a shout of victory, at least she hoped it was victory, that was unmistakably Jodie's.

"Oh, scrap that, she's coming." Krissy said. Linda let out a sigh of relief.

The sound of a phone being passed around echoed down the line, when a recognisable voice came through the phone. The voice was recognisable, but different. No one's quite the same after experiencing the endless tragedies that Sheriff Jodie Mills has had to experience. No one's experienced tragedy like Jodie Mills, full stop.

"Linda. Yeah, we have a situation up here. Did you hear about the monster families in Chicago? Of course you have, everyone has. Well it appears we've got some pretenders here in Sioux Falls, granted it's not Chicago but to quote the vamp I just ganked, 'We've all got to start somewhere'." a breathless Jodie Mills laughed.

"You're sounding more and more like the boys everyday, you know that Jodie?" Linda laughed in response.

"Is that a bad thing? They're damn good hunters, and hey, it might help to get into the mindset, you never know."

It had been 6 months since Jodie had joined forces with Linda to, as they put it 'Clean up the Winchester's messes' and 4 months since Krissy had run to Sioux Falls looking for the Winchester's for help and found Jodie instead.

"So, I'm assuming you've taken out all the vamps? Otherwise you wouldn't sound so calm." Linda said.

"Of course! What do you take me for? A pretender? Yeah, normally I wouldn't ring for something like this, I know you want to spend time with your son" Jodie said.

Linda heard a crack in her voice when she said 'Your son'. Losing her son the way Jodie did is enough to make anyone's voice crack. She decided to let it go.

"No, no that's fine. What's up?" Linda replied, trying to sound too excited. In all honesty Linda had been picking up the phone a lot recently, begging for it to ring. She needed to get out of the house. She loved her son, but sometimes even looking at him almost brought her to tears.

"Well, we need Kevin really." Jodie said carefully.

"What? Why?" Linda said protectively and in disbelief.

"Well, turns out we have a family here in Sioux Falls that Chicago doesn't have."

"What is it?" Linda asked, knowing very well what was coming next,

"Ghosts." Jodie replied.


	2. Wings

Linda put the phone on speaker, "Of course it is. How on Earth do ghosts think they can run a town? Half of them can barely pick things up, they just swipe through them pathetically." she said.

"Excuse me." Kevin said annoyed, "I am not pathetic!"

"No, you're not Kevin," Jodie said, "and neither are these guys, they certainly know what they're doing. The salt mine on the outside of town blew up yesterday, news reports are saying gas leak. Gas leak, I don't think. Any attempt to ward them off with large quantities of that is out of the question, and my guess is anywhere that sells anything with iron will be next. Then who knows what they're planning."

Linda looked up at Kevin who was listening intently to what Jodie was saying,

"Krissy and Jodie need your help Kevin." she said with a tone of sadness.

"I thought they might." Kevin said ignorant of his mother's tone, "I'm no Hunter but I'll help the best I can. What can I do for you Jodie?"

Jodie's voice brightened immediately, "I was looking through the Supernatural books in Bobby's cellar and, assuming they are in fact gospels, came across one case where he worked with a lady called Annie Hawkins."

"So? How can I help with that? Unless she's dead, no can do."

"Well as it turns out, he worked this case after he died, with the ghost of Annie Hawkins. I need you to find her."

"On it." Kevin reached out and took the ring from around his mother's neck and just like disappeared into a haze. Linda Tran shook her head in a way that only mother's can, even mothers of dead prophets.

Linda stayed silent for a moment, hoping that Jodie wouldn't just hang up on her. She needed to get out of the house, to work a case, to hunt again...to practise for when she finally got her hands on Crowley. After a moment of silence, finally Jodie spoke,

"Linda? Are you still there?"

"Yes of course." She said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice.

"We need you to send Annie here once Kevin has got her, I assume she knows where to go but just in case. Also you need to come too, by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! I'm in Pennsylvania! I can't drive to you by tomorrow, and catching a plane is too risky, especially since what Dean told me about his nightmare plane journey with the demon pilot. How do you expect me to do that?"

"You'll think of something." Jodie said. The end of call tone played loudly throughout the quiet house and Linda swore quietly to herself under her breath.

She looked down to her hands and noticed something she'd forgotten she had, her winged bracelet. In the world she had lived in, she'd almost forgotten there was anything but demons and monsters. Despite what Dean had said about most them, she needed a pair of wings right now. He had said there was one angel he could count on, the one that had gripped him tight and raised him from perdition, one he'd even call his friend: Castiel.


	3. An Angel on my Shoulder

As soon as the realisation hit her, Linda Tran ran upstairs to find the emergency phone left to her by the Winchesters. It's called the emergency phone, because it was blocked and not able to be tracked by anyone, even the King of Hell was getting nowhere near it. She grabbed it from the bedside drawer and hit redial, only two rings later, the unmistakable voice of Dean Winchester came through the phone. There was genuine concern in his voice,

"Mrs Tran? What's the matter? He hasn't found you has he?" He said urgently, then away from the phone, "Dammit Sammy I knew we should have ganked him there and then when we had the chance!"

"It's ok Dean, I'm fine, that son of a bitch hasn't got to us yet. I need to find someone." she said.

The urgency immediately disappeared from his voice, "Who?"

"Your friend, the angel, Castiel."

There was a pause on the end of the phone, "Cas? How do you even know about him?"

"You and Kevin have mentioned him a couple of times. Crowley wouldn't shut up about him when he thought I was a permanent prisoner in that storage facility. Called him a sentimental traitor a lot, oh and a wannabe God, also apparently he's your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he likes to think so. Why do you need him?"

Linda, still unsure to whom Dean was referring, replied, "I need to get to Sioux Falls by tomorrow and there's no way that's going to happen. Simply put, I need a pair of wings."

"Yeah, he likes to feel needed as a form of transport." Dean said sarcastically, "Fortunately, after the fall he managed to get his wings back, not entirely humanly, but he got them. I don't know where he is at the moment, fighting Metatron with his army of suicidal angels I expect. You'll need to pray to him if you need him."

"Pray? Seriously? Does that really work?"

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either until he gripped me-"

"Gripped you tight and raised you from perdition, yeah, yeah, I know Dean. Right, I'll get praying, thanks Dean. You boys be careful."

"Yeah you too Mrs Tran, be careful when you're hunting with the Sheriff."

"Thank- Wait, how did you know?"

"We know everything Mrs Tran." Dean said smugly.

Linda Tran vaguely heard Sam's voice in the distance say, "Shut up Dean." Then the line cut out. The end of call tone, echoing through the house once again, reminded Linda how much she didn't like being alone.

She flipped the phone in her hand and took a deep breath, and walked towards the edge of the bed. She shook her head in disbelief that she was actually praying. She'd lost all hope there was a greater power protecting them when Crowley came into her life with his British accent and unruly ways.

She knelt next to the bed and put the phone to one side, clasped her hands together and looked up to the ceiling,

"Um, Castiel. If you are there, it's Linda, uh Linda Tran."

Nothing.

"Kevin Tran's mother. The prophet. I need your help. Dean said you didn't like-"

The sound of a bird closing its wings sounding behind her cut her off mid-sentence. She couldn't believe it worked, before she turned around she tried to remove the surprised look, which she was certain was there, from her face, a deep resonating voice that would made teenage girls gasp reverberated from behind her,

"Mrs Tran? How can I help you?"

Linda Tran spun around to see a man with piercing blue eyes, ruffled dark brown hair standing in a trench coat in front of her. He had a silver blade in his hand, which took her by surprise. He must have spotted her looking at it, because he looked down and slipped it inside his coat quickly,

"Sorry. Force of habit. These are dangerous times for all of us Mrs Tran, angels, humans and demons alike."

Linda let out a sigh of relief, "I know, particularly dangerous for Crowley when I get near him."

Without any reaction to that rather threatening statement, he said, "So I have heard. Your escapes from his hold are infamous."

"Good to know."

Castiel stood for a moment looking at her expectantly, with his piercing blue eyes squinting in anticipation, "So", he said after a pause, "Like I said before, what can I do for you?"


	4. Long Journey

"Ah yes, sorry" Linda said hurriedly, "Only you're not exactly what I was expecting."

Castiel squinted at Linda questioning, "I don't understand. What were you expecting?"

Linda thought for a moment, not wanting to sound offensive, "It's just, I mean aren't angels meant to have a halo of light and...wings?"

Castiel smirked, "What you mean like this?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw from outside the window a sudden flash of light, followed by a crack of thunder that would put Thor himself to shame, to which she jumped around to look out the window. The lightning continued and after a moment of confusion as to where this unexpected storm had come from, the realisation hit her harder than a truck. She turned slowly around to see the unassuming man in the trench coat with the now glowing piercing blue eyes, transform into an angel before her.

It wasn't just the shadow of the magnificent wings on the wall behind him. It was the steely expression on his face, one of pure determination, anger, composure and satisfaction all at once. She stared in amazement for what felt like hours, nay days. This sight is one that would stay with someone forever, and Linda Tran was certain this was one them. She thought to herself,

_If anyone can beat the King of Hell, surely this is the man to do it._

A final clap of thunder brought her back to her senses, just as the awesome light show outside ended she noticed that his wings were not quite equal, frayed at the edges and even as the light died she could have sworn she saw a shadowy feather fall.

Dean had mentioned Castiel had got his wings back after the fall, although he hadn't mentioned how, but in that moment she was sure that they were not his wings he was wearing on his back.

Trying to keep her composure, Linda said "Well then, I stand corrected, Dean was right about you."

Despite himself, Cas smiled proudly and Linda noticed immediately, but changed the subject, "I need to ask a favour", she said, "Can you get me to Sioux Falls in South Dakota please?"

"Bobby's house?" Cas asked in his gruff voice, with a highly questioning tone.

"Bobby? That's the boys friend and mentor right?"

"Yes that's the one. He was like a father to them, I visited him in heaven a few times, before Metatron got his hands on the key to close the gates that is".

Linda nodded in false understanding, "Not Bobby's house, no, Jodie Mills'. The Sheriff, not sure if you know her."

"Dean told me about her", Cas said solemnly, "She has endured many tragedies." He sighed in sympathy, "Yes I can get you there. Now?"

Cas held out his hand towards Linda, and she flinched away automatically. After all her ordeals, and despite Cas' good reviews, she was immediately wary of anything non human touching her.

Cas looked at her, a little hurt,

"I won't hurt you Mrs Tran, I need to be in contact with you for this to work."

Linda paused for a moment, then thought of something,

"My son, Kevin, are him and Annie Hawkins at Sioux Falls yet? Can you tell?"

With no warning from him, just like that he disappeared in the blink of an eye and she watched as a shimmering black feather fell to the ground in front of her. Just as she leant down to pick it up, she heard the similar sound of feathers closing behind the door and she turned to look. The door opened and Cas walked back in,

"Sorry, GPS is off. Yes, they're there, along with someone else you may want to meet. It seems the Sheriff is good at picking up the Winchester's accomplices". Cas said, slightly out of breath for such a long trip on damaged wings.

Linda looked at him questioningly, he only smiled at her and reached out and took her arm. Just before she disappeared into a void of nothingness, she looked down and noticed that the feather she had seen before, had gone.


	5. New Recruit

Sheriff Jodie Mills spun around to the sound of ruffling feathers, she automatically reached to her hip for her pistol. As soon as she saw Linda Tran standing there looking slightly dazed with the man in trench coat she removed her hand from her hip and gave a sigh of relief.

"Now that's how to make an entrance", a voice Linda didn't recognise heard from the back of the room. She didn't acknowledge it straight away, but first got her bearings and laid eyes on the angel first.

"Are you ok Mrs Tran? It's something that's hard to get used to first time, I'm also a little out of practice. Sorry." Cas said apologetically.

"No, no, I'm fine", Linda said distantly, and stumbled into a chair and put her head in her hands.

Cas looked around the room at the three other women and one teenager in the room, as if he were analysing them with his striking blue eyes, then simply said,

"Well if that'll be all, I have a war to go and fight. If you need me, I'll be with the Winchesters, and trying not to get killed", he said with a slight hint of defiance.

Just like that, he was gone in a flurry of shadowy wings and invisible feathers.

Jodie shook her head in disbelief,

"Angels", she said shaking her head, looking around at the others in the room. She walked over to the counter and poured a glass of scotch and handed it to Linda, who had just looked up, seeming slightly less dazed.

"Thanks, I shan't be doing that again in a hurry, that's for sure", she said. She heard the others laugh, two laughs she recognised, Jodie and Krissy, and one was familiar, ghostly and hollow in an echoing way. She realised that must be Annie, her laugh was similar to Kevin's. The other laugh was unknown to her and first she panicked, wondering who this usurper was. Only a moment after her concern had taken seed, the voice of the newbie emerged,

"Hello there, you must be Mrs Tran. I've heard a lot about you from the boys", a young girl with red hair, a backpack and a t-shirt, with a slogan on she didn't recognise, said, "I'm Charlie, Charlie Bradbury." She held out her hand for Linda to shake.

Shaking this newcomers hand, Linda looked at Jodie in concern, how could she think this woman was capable of the kind of work that they do? She looked no more than 24, and had no obvious weapons to hand. Linda kept a blade in her boot at all times now.

Jodie noticed Linda's look of concern, and smiled,

"Don't worry Linda, she's tougher than she looks and plus, the boys speak very highly of her indeed", she looked at Charlie and smiled.

Charlie looked at the ground for a moment in supposed embarrassment, then up and said in a very unembarrassed manner,

"Well y'know I did practically take out Roman Enterprises single handedly", she said smugly but with a hint of jest. Annie smirked at the back of the room with a disbelieving tone,

"Ok fine", Charlie said, "But without me, Sam and Dean would never have been able to take that dick, literally and figuratively down", she laughed to herself, "and we'd all be bleeding black goo and eating ourselves to death in a Bigersons."

Annie and Linda looked deeply confused and very concerned at Charlie, she spun around and faced Annie,

"You missed a lot whilst you were dead. Leviathans and the like", Charlie said.

"Yes, thank you Charlie, we get the picture. Why don't you tell them what you did, rather than the riddles", Jodie said impatiently.

Charlie smiled and gestured for Krissy to help her, together they walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a large bag, and out of it pulled a laptop, which would have looked completely normal if it wasn't for the various multicoloured devices and leads sticking out of it, one of which trailed out of the bag. Krissy pulled up a large hard drive out of the bag and placed it on the table next to the laptop.

Immediately, realisation hit Linda and Annie like walking into a brick wall. They had heard Roman Enterprises had been partly taken down by hacker, no-one believed one person could do it on their own. Apparently they had been wrong, that very person was standing in front of them.


	6. Subtlety isn't their Strong Suit

Linda gaped at Charlie, "You cannot be serious. You're telling me that you were the one to break into Roman Enterprises and get all that information for Sam and Dean?"

"Don't sound so surprised", Charlie said, with a hint of annoyance, "I'm not just a pretty face you know". She walked over to her laptop and gestured for everyone to gather around. Annie flickered to behind Charlie, making her jump, but Annie only smiled sweetly and everyone else moved around to look at the laptop as if a ghost wasn't in the room with them.

Charlie regained her composure, "Right, back to the matter at hand I think, dudes...", after weary looks from Jodie and Linda, she said, "What? I spend most of my time working with guys, which is unfortunate considering I'm-"

"Just get on with it Charlie", Jodie said impatiently. Krissy chuckled at this and got, what can only be described as, a death stare from Jodie.

"Ok, fine. Look, this is what I have on the case so far. From what I can gather from various online sources and forums, there are currently seven monster families here is Sioux Falls...actually make that six," she shot a sideways glance at Jodie and grinned, "Nice work by the way". She held her hand up to Jodie, clearly expecting a high five, but Jodie simply stood there are stared at her impatiently.

"Oh, come on lighten up!" Krissy said, and gave Charlie a high five instead. Charlie nodded at Krissy approvingly,

"Yeah! That's the kind of attitude we need!" Charlie said enthusiastically to a beaming Krissy.

Linda watched Jodie's face, and found it unmoving apart from a very small twitch of a smile when she looked at Krissy. After all Jodie had been through, she was allowed to be as she was, but that glimpse of a smile gave Linda hope that perhaps, Krissy might be the one to brighten up Jodie's life once again, after so much loss. She shot a sideways glance at Annie, who was still staring at the screen,

"Ok, so we've taken out the vamps right?", Annie, who appeared to have ignored Charlie's outburst of enthusiasm, said and looked at Jodie, who simply nodded, "So, I'm guessing, since you've called me here, there is also a ghost family? That's a new one on me."

Charlie spoke up, "You got it in one, the police reports show multiple strange deaths recently all over Sioux, no break ins, no fingerprints, nothing, nada, null. Originally, I couldn't work out what it could be," she said frantically typing, "Could be anything, poltergeists, Tulpas - although that's unlikely - witches even. Then however I came across this." She turned the computer around to the group, with a police report on the screen.

Linda scanned her eyes over the report, she read something about someone with serious vertigo falling off a roof, to which she said,

"They're not subtle are they, these supernatural beings?", for which she received a knowing head shake from Krissy.

Linda turned her eyes back to the screen, and just as she read the sentence which gave the clue, Annie stood up suddenly with a flicker and a gasp,

"Salt", she said.

"Exactly", Charlie said, "There was a hell of a lot of salt found at the crime scene, all over the window ledges, thrown all around where the body was found."

Jodie interrupted, "So, our murdered friend here was a hunter. So we worked out it was likely one of two things, demons", Linda shot a look at Jodie, "or ghosts", she finished.

"So I got in contact with Sam and Dean, and they said they'd heard nothing from Crowley about any activ-"

Linda suddenly jumped out her seat, and spun Charlie around to look at her, "What?!"

Jodie looked around her frantically and took Linda by the shoulders, Charlie looked around caught off guard,

"Now Linda, don't panic. It's not as it seems." Jodie said, trying to calm her.

Linda could only stare, "Well, if it isn't as it seems, explain to me what you mean."


	7. School Days

Linda could feel her heart beating faster than she ever remember, more so than when she had been locked in that storage facility, more so than when she had found out Kevin was dead. She realise how unreasonable it seemed, but the anger and betrayal she felt was a whole new experience. She looked around her at the other faces in the room, most looking confused, but Jodie's face was calm, although she could see the panic in her eyes.

"Linda, please don't get worked up. I know it's hard for you to understand, but it was necessary for th-" Jodie said, before she was cut off.

"Necessary? Really? How is collaborating with the demon that kidnapped me, tortured me and has tried to kill me many times necessary?", she could hear the malice in her voice, and it surprised her.

"W-we needed contacts from b-b-below", Charlie stuttered, clearly afraid of the response she may receive. Her tone of voice was clearly a new one for Krissy, as she looked at Charlie shocked. It seemed her confident demeanour had been vanquished by Linda's outburst just like that.

Thinking of all her and Kevin had been through, she said, "And the only way was through the King of Hell? I can't believe they would do that to me! To us!" She snapped at Charlie, but immediately regretted it, it wasn't Charlie's fault.

_Don't shoot the messenger_, she said to herself.

"I hate to butt in here, but we have more important things to worry about at the moment, who cares where Sam and Dean get their information from, so long as we have it? So far, there's not demon family, and that's what's important", Annie said.

Linda opened her mouth to protest, but got a look from Jodie, and let it slide. She knew that Sam and Dean had to get their information from somewhere, and she couldn't hold that against them. Sh would deal with that problem later. Plus, Annie was right, they had bigger problems to solve.

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to her computer, "Right, as I was saying," her confident demeanour rekindled as if nothing had happened, "There is no demon family, or at least this one wasn't one. Instead we have got ourselves a ghost problem".

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I thought ghosts haunted one single place, how are they moving around?", Krissy said, pointing to a map, "Look, the murders are not even close to a single place!"

Charlie opened her mouth to explain, but Linda knew why, she had experience, "Objects", she said, "If the bodies were cremated, or buried far from where they haunt, it's likely an object with their DNA on it is keeping them there. They can move wherever they like, provided they take their object with them." She raised her hand subconsciously to wear the ring should have been around her neck, and when she found nothing, a wave of sadness crashed over her.

Jodie noticed the emotion in Linda's voice and glanced at her, but made no comment, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Krissy nodded in understanding, unaware of Linda's experience, so Charlie continued, "As Krissy pointed out, they are moving around, however, the murders happen are renovations or school around the city. Normally that would seem odd, because it's not consistent, but each renovation was also an old school."

"So, if someone died at that school, the ghost would come back and kill anyone who got in there way when they returned", Annie said, with realisation in her voice.

"Exactly," Charlie then said in a jesting tone, "I looked up the history and other than discovering that school is dangerous-"

Krissy coughed with expectation and looked at Jodie, "Yeah right," Jodie replied with a knowing look.

"There was at least one suicide at each of the ex-schools where the recent murders happened. So all we have to do, is research other schools where suicides occurred, and find one that fits the description and we got ourselves a ghost family."

Krissy, Jodie and Annie looked at Charlie pleased with what they were hearing when Linda said,

"That's all very well, but how do we know whether the ghosts are working alone or whether the whole family goes with them? There isn't time to kill them one at a time!"

Jodie looked at Linda, "We know. It's a just a risk we will have to take."


	8. Preparations

From the corner of the room, Krissy observed the group working around her. They were a mix of people, that's for sure. A ghost, a sheriff, a computer hacker and a mother, and her, a 16 year old girl who had been dragged into this world of hunting by her father who was killed by a vampire a year ago.

Taken in by Jodie Mills, together they had formed the 'Women of Letters', the name was Krissy's idea. She'd heard Sam refer to the 'Men of Letters' quite often when the brothers had come to visit Jodie and her. She'd figured, if there can be a 'Men of Letters', why not a 'Women of Letters'? As far as she was concerned, the only difference in hunting skills between female and male was iron. She chuckled to herself at the thought of that, Chemistry at school hadn't been a complete waste of time.

She was cut of mid train of thought when Charlie came up to her,

"Hey Krissy, stop day dreaming and come help me move this equipment? We got to get going soon!" she turned her back and walked toward to the door, cables and laptops piled so high in her arms you could only just see her face. Krissy followed, still proud of her pun.

Meanwhile, Jodie was across the room talking to Annie across the room, while she shovelled iron rods and salt into a duffel bag. Annie kept a safe distance from that bag.

Jodie said, "So, you go into the building and disarm the alarm, then unlock the fire exit, around the back to let us in. OK?"

"Not a problem. Are there security guards there?" Annie replied.

"Yes. Charlie checked the staff list of the museum, and according to the records there is only one guard who takes the night shift, so presumably he'll be the target. We need to get in before the family arrives, because I don't suppose they'll linger long after the deed is done."

"Ok, I'll let you in and then go and distract him? Knock something over or something, I'll work it out."

"Yeah, there's only so much planning that can go into this operation. Ghosts are hardly predictable, no offense."

"None taken."

Linda overheard this and walked over and asked Jodie, "So what's my part in this?".

Jodie turned towards Linda, and handed the now packed duffle bag, "You'll come with me, Charlie will be on the computer out back watching for the security guards and any potential supernatural beings."

At that moment, Charlie and Krissy returned to the room out of breath from carrying all the equipment to the pickup and walked over to Jodie and the others. Charlie was as usual, beaming from ear to ear and the excitement in Krissy's eyes was plain to see, though she was trying to be cool and nonchalant about it.

Linda was far from that state, the last time she had been in this situation, she'd nearly died. She wished she had the luxury of sitting in a pickup truck watching some monitors, but she knew she'd be less than useless trying to help Charlie, so resigned to her fate.

Jodie addressed the group, "We're all clear on the plan? Annie will get us in, Linda will come with me and Krissy will set off to searching elsewhere. Annie will distract the security guard, and if possible get him out of the museum. Charlie will man the cameras and let us know where the Addams Family are camped out in the museum."

Charlie and Annie chuckled at that comment, and Krissy looked at them confused. Just another reminder of how young Krissy was, and she sighed at the thought. She's too young to be doing this, especially alone, and she'd addressed these concerns to Jodie earlier and Jodie simply looked at her and said,

"You underestimate the stubbornness of the girl. Plus, despite all my reservations, she's a damn good hunter. Don't forget Sam and Dean started this young."

Linda remembered, and thought, _That's true, but they've hardly had it easy and could hardly be described as 100% sound of mind._

She'd kept this thought to herself, they couldn't do this with fewer people and if anything Linda would not want to go out alone.

After the plan was finalised, they headed to the pickup, all bundled and set off to what Linda was sure was certain death.


	9. Run

There was something strangely unsettling about schools at night, even ex-schools, from the outside they can seem unwelcoming and eerie. This particular one had been turned into a museum, and it certainly wasn't the Smithsonian. It was a two story build and was made of patchwork red brick, and the old school fencing still stood reminding visitors of its history.

This particular museum documented the "vast exciting history" of Sioux Falls - which Jodie scoffed at when told and said,

"The most exciting things that happened in this mangy little town were at an old car salvage yard, and no one had a clue" - Annie nodded in agreement at that comment.

The four living members of the Women of Letters were crammed into the cab of the pickup, not made easier by Charlie turning around checking on the mountains of computer equipment in the back every thirty seconds,

"Will you stop turning around! Where's it going to go?!" Linda exclaimed, the fear that was building up, breaking out in anger. No-one said anything, as everyone - even Jodie - was afraid, even if some hid it better than others.

They arrived to see a pale figure waiting for them outside the museum, Annie walked over to them and said,

"I've checked, there's one guard on duty but the alarm system needs his card to deactivate it, so I don't know what you wa-", she was interrupted by Charlie who put a hand up in front of Annie's face,

"I got this, just get me the make and model of the alarm and I can do it from here, no worries. No-one else in the area will have an alarm either, but, y'know, if they want to live, they'll have to deal with it!", she chuckled, but failed to disguise her anxiety with confidence as she was wont to do. No-one was quite themselves, even Krissy's brave face was waning.

Silence spread through the small group standing on the pavement, the only sound was Krissy's heels rocking backwards and forwards on the concrete ground, echoing of the red brick walls. Jodie broke in much to the relief of everyone else,

"Right, Annie get Charlie that alarm code-"

"Make and model", Charlie interrupted again. For that comment, she got a stare from Jodie that quietened her immediately, she turned to Krissy,

"Krissy, get the duffel out the back and Charlie get the CCTV up, I'm not doing anything without eyes in there."

The addressed members moved out, and Annie flickered out like a TV turning off. Linda turned to Jodie and said,

"Have you ever dealt with anything like this before?" her neck feeling empty without the ring hanging there,

"Ghosts, yes. Usually straightforward, find the item or the bones - burn them. This is different, we have to burn more than one object and maybe bones too, and I doubt they'll keep them altogether where we can get at them, but you never know, miracles have happened."

Linda nodded, thinking back to the arrival of Sam and Dean when she was rescued from her corrugated iron prison, she felt the burn mark on her arm itch from where her anti-possession tattoo had been. A lot of good that had done.

Krissy arrived back, hauling the duffel bag over her shoulder just as Annie materialised back to hand Charlie a note with numbers on it, which were then immediately punched into a laptop sprouting routers, cables, screens and memory sticks.

Behind Linda, the lights on the boxes attached to the walls of the museum flickered off and she looked at their techie expecting a smug smile, but only got a blank expression and wide eyes from Charlie. She coughed quietly and said,

"Alarm's off".

Jodie smiled reassuringly at her, and asked,

"How's the CCTV looking?" whilst walking over towards the many tentacled computer. Charlie nodded, not moving her vision from the screen and reached out and handed each of the team a retro walkie-talkie. Krissy held it in her hand and looked at it like she'd just been given a bicycle to use in a NASCAR race. Jodie saw her expression, smiled and simply said,

"Budget cuts."

Krissy smiled laughed despite herself, and even Linda felt more at ease from that one simple noise. She knew it would not last, and steeled herself as the four ladies armed themselves with iron, salt and all manner of weapons.

She sighed and followed everyone else towards the school leaving Charlie behind in the truck, clutching the walkie-talkie as if it would escape if she held too lightly.

200 yards.

150 yards.

100 yards. Cold.

75 yards. Colder.

74 yards. Krissy disappeared from beside them with a yelp.

73 yards. They were running.


	10. Man down

The world became a blur of pounding feet, pounding hearts and adrenaline. The school come museum loomed in front of them, the air getting colder with every panicked step. No one noticed, the only thought on their minds was "Get Krissy out of there."

One minute she'd been there, nonchalantly strolling along as if this were an everyday occurrence for a sixteen year old girl, but as soon as the air started to frost around them, the tension multiplied tenfold. Weapons were raised and voices hushed. Even Annie felt the change, even if she couldn't feel the cold.

Then just like that, there was a rush of air, a scream and Krissy disappeared. Jodie's face turned from fear to anger in a split second and Annie simply took one look at Jodie and knew what to do, she dematerialised and Linda and Jodie started to sprint towards the school. Both of their faces a mask of sheer determination, Jodie's hiding anger and Linda's hiding a deep set fear.

Yet, they powered forward.

In front of them, a pale figure appeared in front of them causing Linda to draw up short, thinking it was Annie, until she noticed the matted hair and rope marks around her neck. Jodie didn't stop however, she brought up the iron rod and with a shout of determination swung the iron rod straight through the figure who immediately disintegrated into trails of grey smoke.

"Come on, we can't stop." Jodie turned and said. Not trusting her own composure, Linda simply nodded and took a deep shuddering breath and followed after Jodie with her salt shotgun loaded and ready.

From her belt, through her walkie-talkie, she heard a crackly voice that was unmistakably Charlie's yelling,

"Behind you!", Linda swung around to see another figure behind her, a boy, not much older than Kevin staring at her with dead eyes and a pained face. She raised her shotgun and fired straight into the deceased boy's face, before she focused too much on the resemblance to her own son.

She cocked the gun, turned and ran towards the school after Jodie not waiting for the canister to hit the floor. From one side of the museum, another shot sounded and the sound of breaking glass echoed towards her. By this point Linda was too focused on firing at the pale figures around her to remember that Jodie didn't pick up a gun.

She looked briefly to see a short overweight man clad in a blue uniform pointing a gun, with shaky hands, at Annie. The shock on his face was plain after his bullet made no impact on Annie, only shattering a window behind her.

Despite herself, Linda laughed out loud at the sight of a ghost with her hands raised in front of the security guard. The sound brought her to the guard's attention and he and Annie snapped their heads around to look at her. A wave of panic washed over Linda and she froze. The shotgun in her hand, a trail of empty canisters behind her, she could imagine what the guard thought.

As he started to lift the gun in the direction of Linda's position, what happened next could have been in slow motion. Jodie looked at Annie and nodded, and just like that, the security guard and Annie disappeared into a cloud of greyish smoke.

When Linda knew what happened, she could only look on disbelieving. It is near impossible for ghosts to transfer humans when they dematerialise, especially with heaven shut down, Annie would be out of action for at least an hour, and she would be in no fighting shape when she returned.

As if nothing had just happened, Jodie walked over to the locked fire exit, which was meant to be their way in, and banged on it in frustration and cried out. Placing both hands on the window, she tried to look into the building, that was when Linda reached her.

"I'm sorry Jodie," Linda whispered, "it's just too much, I've never done anything like this before! You have to understand, the last few days have been a blur. I thought I'd left demons behind!"

Jodie didn't turn around, but started speaking into the glass of the fire door, her voice muffled by her hands,

"Jodie, please", she said despairingly, "turn around."

Jodie lowered her hands and turned towards Linda, the mask of determination still on her face, this time however, it was not a mask, it was real.

"We're two me-women down, we have no way in, Krissy's been captured and I have no idea where to even start looking for that box."

Linda looked at her with confusion, the words coming out of her mouth matched neither her expression, nor what Linda was expecting to hear and yet it was happening.

"I saw you fighting over there, you're really damn good with a shotgun, that will certainly be useful when we get in...",

Linda wasn't fully sure whether she was, at least in part, talking to herself, and yet she continued speaking,

"You want to help? Find us a way in and help rescue Krissy."

Charlie's crackly voice came over the walkie-talkies on their hips, the two identical voices sounding eerie together,

"Ok, not that it matters now, but CCTV is down and alarms are disabled. Also, where'd the ghostly gang go?"

Jodie looked at Linda and said, "They know we're coming."

She then pressed the button on her walkie-talkie,

"My guess is they're waiting for us inside, Linda's got a way in", looking at Linda expectantly the whole time she was speaking.

Without another word, Linda turned her back on Jodie and walked around the side of the school where Annie had been moments earlier, and stood in front of the shattered window and glanced at Jodie. She simply smiled and put her hands out to give Linda a leg up.

The real battle was about to begin.


	11. Through the Window

Lying a cloth along the windowsill to cover up the broken glass, Jodie Mills pulled herself up and over into the museum. After briefly looking at her surroundings from the windowsill, she jumped down and landed next to Linda who was standing with her shotgun hanging at her side. Despite her seemingly calm exterior, Jodie could see that the safety was off on the gun. She allowed herself a small smile, Linda's famed 'badassery' had returned - hopefully permanently.

They were standing in a room filled with mechanical exhibits, old station wagons, tractors, cars and various engines which, no doubt, Dean would have been able to name each and every one. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted an exhibit showcasing the evolution of the Chevrolet car, the 1967 just out of sight but Jodie knew what would be there.

Cabinets created a translucent maze all around them, engines, gear boxes, bonnets and wheels all encased in a sheet of boxes of glass surrounded them from all angles. All these exhibits were not the thing that Jodie and Linda noticed most of all though: it was the silence.

The deafening silence and the cold.

All they could hear was their breathing, which was now misting in front of them. Linda followed the trail of her breath with her eyes and all of a sudden the shotgun that had moments ago been hanging at her side was now up by her shoulder, aiming into the middle of the maze.

Jodie followed the line of Linda's shotgun, and when she saw what Linda had, retrieved a salt-shell out of her pocket and loaded it into her shotgun and raised it also.

About 200 yards in front of them, slowly but surely, the glass cabinets were frosting up slowly: making a barrier through the centre of maze, blocking their view. The sound of the glass being covered with ice and cracking was getting progressively louder. Directly in front of them a glass cabinet was almost completely covered , Linda and Jodie both had their guns pointed directly at the gap next to it.

Neither of them were breathing, the only sound was the last of ice frosting over and the instant it finished, they put their fingers on the triggers and an almighty _BANG! _emulated in the room - but not from the guns.

Jodie and Linda barely had time to cover their eyes as the glass cabinet nearest to them exploded into a million fragments and were projected towards them. Both the guns flew out of their hands and landed across the room, Linda was flung backwards and landed inches from the pile of broken glass.

Jodie turned around to see a boy standing in front of her, seemingly normal, apart from being eerily pale. She raised her iron bar and swung it through the ghost, and he dissipated into wisps of grey smoke. She turned her back and ran towards Linda, and another cabinet next to her exploded onto her, cutting into her hands and arm as she tried to protect her face.

Linda was just getting up when Jodie reached her, and put an arm down to help to lift her up.

"There, look", Linda said as she pointed to the shotguns lying across the room. They ran towards them and a ghost of a young girl appeared in front of them, Jodie and Linda pulled up short and just as Jodie was raising her weapon it flew out of her hand. The ghost was wearing a Dorothy style blue dress and tattered apron, she even had the red shoes and the pigtails.

"Oh look who it is", said the ghost girl, "if it isn't Tiger Mommy and Ranger Rick. We were warned you might come."

"That's rich coming from Dorothy. Did you get lost on your way to Oz?" Jodie asked sarcastically. The ghost girl smiled slyly at her, but said nothing.

"Who warned you about us? Crowley?" Linda blurted out.

"Crowley? The demon? No, we wouldn't associate ourselves with such scum as the likes of him".

"Who warned you then?" Jodie asked.

"No, no, no. You don't get to ask questions! That's not how this works. What happens now, is that I kill you", she said pointing to Jodie, "then you", pointing to Linda, "then I kill your...daughter? The scrawny teenager, oh I don't know".

Krissy. She meant Krissy, Linda thought. She looked at Jodie and saw murder in her eyes. The ghost girl had hit a nerve. Linda had no idea what to do, but seeing the determination in Jodie's eyes gave her hope.

"Oh I see, she means a lot, huh? Well then, it's a shame she won't be able to say goodbye", she said and turned around and started to walk towards the shotguns, "This is a novelty getting killed with your own weapon!"

As she turned around, she saw that the ghost girl's red shoes shone in the light and were bright compared to the rest of her, Linda glanced at Jodie as if questioning what she had just seen. Jodie subtly put her hand in her right pocket.

"Everyone is going to be so pleased when they find out that I, little old me, actually killed Jodie Mills! Ha! Imagine that!" the ghost girl said as she reached down to pick up the shotgun.

As she laid her hand on the gun, she reeled back and let out a cry of pain,

"Aaah!", grey wisps of smoke came off of her hand as she shot round to glare blue murder at Linda and Jodie.

"Iron barrel doesn't agree with you honey?" Jodie said as the ghost stared in horror.

In an instant, Jodie pulled a lighter out of her pocket, lit it and threw it at the red shoes. The shoes and the ghost girl went up in flame accompanied by a scream.

The scream continued on.

It continued for too long.

Jodie then realised it wasn't coming from the girl, it was coming from the next room.

Krissy.


	12. Rescue Mission

The scream suddenly cut off and without another word, Jodie sprinted in the direction of the distinctive scream, glass crunching under her feet and sheer determination on her face.

"Jodie! Wait!" Linda shouted after her, "It could be a trap!"

Jodie slowed down and spun around to look at Linda, "Of course it's a trap", she said calmly to Linda, too calmly Linda thought.

"You can't Jodie, it's suicide."

She started back towards Linda, "Well what do you expect me to do? Leave her? We're wasting time now! Are you coming or not?"

Without another word to Jodie, only a sigh, Linda loaded her shotgun and followed her towards the sound of the scream and walked alongside Jodie. Picking up the walkie-talkie she spoke into it,

"Charlie, it's Linda. We've found Krissy, she's in trouble, if we're not back in an hour - run, don't think, just run."

Jodie glanced sideways at Linda after that comment, but made no dispute with her. Despite Linda's initial reservations towards Charlie, she knew that Linda's motherly instinct had taken over since anyone close to her son's age automatically became her concern.

Crackling static came through the radio, after a pause which felt like it lasted an eternity, Charlie's voice came through the radio and she simply said, "Ok".

Jodie looked surprised at this response from Charlie, but she shook her head and half-smiled. Her companion glanced at her questionably,

"She learned to hunt with the boys, I think she's either given up arguing when it comes to hunting or she's more afraid of you than them", Jodie explained.

Linda raised her eyebrows in response to this, as if to say, "Really?". As Jodie was about to reply, from the other side of the room directly in front of them, a door slammed. Both women raised their shotguns in response and automatically turned back to back, Jodie faced towards the noise and Linda towards the way they came. Through the glass maze, Jodie saw the door that was the culprit, tapping Linda on the shoulder she turned around and they both crept towards the door, being careful to avoid the puddles of shattered glass.

Linda looked to her right and in the reflection of one of the glass cases which had survived the ghost attack, a man with great Tim Burton style staring eyes, pale skin and a dark suit stared at her, she spun and brought her iron bar through the man. Jodie didn't even flinch, and continued on her initial trajectory. She passed a fire alarm, and looked up to see sprinklers covering the ceiling, picking up her walkie-talkie she spoke into the static,

"Charlie. There's a sprinkler system in here, can you do anything with that?"

"Give me ten minutes", came the reply.

Ahead of her, Linda had reached the double doors, she gestured to Jodie who came up next to her and put her back to the other door. The door had the word _STORAGE _written on it in bold letters. Jodie counted to three on her fingers and Linda pushed the door open hard with her foot and Jodie spun round the edge of the door, shotgun raised.

In front of her, metal cages filled with other exhibits were scattered haphazardly throughout the room. Engines, racing suits and helmets placed uncaringly one top of one another were trapped inside these cages. A couple of these prisons were knocked over, their contents spilled across the floor. On the wall on the right of them, a blackboard still hung haphazardly on the wall, a remnant of a bygone era in the building's history.

Along the blackboard were three scratch marks, three of them, distinctively fingernail marks which trailed off towards the end of the board.

Both the women saw this, "This way", Jodie said to Linda pointing further into the room.

They continued through the room, occasionally seeing scuff marks on the floor from shoes that could only be Krissy's. Surrounding them were increasingly more metal cages, closing in on them forcing them to walk in single file, as they turned a corner, in front of them a chair sat in the middle of the room with a single figure tied to the chair, mouth gagged.

"You took you're goddamn time", Krissy said flashing an inappropriately cheesy at her rescuers as they removed the scrap of material from her mouth.

"Oh thank God you're alright", Jodie said with relief helping her up.

"I don't think God had a thing to do with this", she replied with a voice filled with malice and sarcasm. Linda didn't make any comment, but looked suspiciously around her.

"What's the matter?" Krissy asked.

"This is too easy", Linda replied, receiving a nod of agreement from Jodie accompanied by the unique sound of her shotgun being reloaded.

"You're right", a voice emerged from seemingly everywhere, "you don't think we'd just let you leave did you?"

"I hate how they can do that with their voices", Krissy said with a tinge of jealously.

"If you take your box of trinkets out of Sioux and never return, we promise we won't destroy you", Jodie shouted.

"Ha! You might not, but your hunter friends won't make the same promises, and anyway, why would we leave? We've got you cornered, and your iron bars can't take us all out", the voice emulated through the room.

"Oh yeah?", Jodie replied with a slight quiver in her voice, "Why don't you come out and see?", glancing at Linda and indicated back the way they came. Linda moved towards the exit, but Jodie didn't follow.

All of a sudden the temperature dropped in the room tenfold, and out of the cages emerged countless ghosts, all of them pale, with dark eyes and shabby clothing. There were men dressed in suits and boiler suits, women in dresses and kids, so many kids.

"What kind of a school was this?", Krissy asked quietly.

Jodie responded, "Not a good one".

Linda backed into the wall, and raised her gun. Jodie and Krissy turned back to back and prepared to slash at the oncoming attack. The figures walked towards them, and they knew they were outnumbered.

"We can't fight our way out", Krissy said.

"We don't have a choice", Jodie replied.

"Well then. If we're gonna go down, let's go down swinging", Krissy said in response.


	13. Make it Rain

Jodie passed her crowbar to Krissy who raised it in front of her, and stood in fighting stance. Krissy smirked and let out a little snort of laughter - a sound which neither Jodie and Linda expected to hear. Jodie turned her head to look at Krissy and gave her a questioning glance.

"It's like, y'know in TV shows when the two protagonists are preparing to fight the big baddie or whatever, one says a something corny and over the top in an attempt to be badass, and there is dramatic music, and then the show cuts to an ad break? Yeah, that's what I was imagining.", Krissy replied which a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"This ain't no TV show, sunshine", came a thick Southern accent from within the maze of cages. The accent was accompanied, what can only be described, as a stereotypical hillbilly gardener you might see on a cartoon set at a school. Battered trousers, grubby t-shirt covering a beer belly complete with hole-filled baseball cap hiding a pale angry face looking a bit worse for wear. Jodie thought he reminded her of a significantly less appealing Bobby Singer, and she felt a tinge of sadness for her friend.

"It could be y'know!", Krissy replied enthusiastically, startling Jodie who was just about to load her shotgun and blow this wannabe Bobby Singer two ways from Sunday, "it could be like, candid camera, or... the Truman Show! You never know these days, what with the NSA and all..." she said shaking her head.

"What are you talking about?!", asked a clearly exasperated, but also intrigued, schoolboy dressed in perfect regulation uniform, apart from the blood red cuffs on his shirt, "NSA, Truman Show... what is this nonsense?"

Whilst Joe Bloggs was having his rant, and the other ghosts were looking confused, Jodie glanced at Krissy and elbowed her in the back. Krissy signalled with her eyes towards where Linda had gone and Jodie looked over to see she had disappeared around the corner and simultaneously noticed that 90% of the ghosts had slowed or completely stopped their approach towards them.

She had no time to come to her realisation, when in that exact instant, Charlie's crackly voice came over the radio and simply said,

"Make it rain, bitches."

Three seconds later, and the fire bell began to let out the common high pitched piercing ring, one that haunted the nightmares of high school students. Out of nowhere, one very large schoolboy, bursting out of his uniform, screamed and disappeared into grey smoke (_Heart attack, _Jodie thought).

Another three seconds passed, and the sprinkler system turned on, which was just enough time for Krissy, Jodie and Linda to watch the ghosts eyes widen before they held their arms up and disappeared into wisps of smoke.

Linda appeared around the corner, to see Jodie with her eyes wide, shotgun still raised, and Krissy beaming like it was her birthday with the crowbar hanging at her side surrounded by quickly evaporating ghosts.

As the water ran off Jodie's short hair, it travelled down her face and onto her lips which she subconsciously licked - she tasted salt.

"You're welcome", came Charlie's voice down the walkie-talkie; just able to be heard over the screeching alarm. Jodie could see Charlie's smug smile in her head. Yesterday, Linda would have rolled her eyes at such a comment; today was a different story.

Jodie regained her composure, and looked at her two compatriots,

"We need to move, they'll be materialising in other rooms now, but their weak. So long as we find the box before they get to us, we'll be fine", she yelled over the alarm, the intended serious tone in her voice swapped for loudness as a necessity.

"Whereabouts are you?" Charlie asked through the walkie.

"In the storage room, off the exhibit space we came in through", replied Krissy.

After a moment of silence, she said,

"Ok, if you keep walking through, you come to another door. It leads to the main exhibit hall of the museum...ha, would you believe it, it's been emptied for refurbishment according to the website. Oh, and it used to be the dining hall, when this hell-hole was a school. My bet is that this is where the ghosts have been hiding out, and where you'll find Pandora's box."

The three hunters headed further into the cages, occasionally squeezing themselves between two and sometime pushing them aside. They delved further into the maze of weaved aluminium, passing more and more priceless artefacts from the world of NASCAR, Formula 1 and other more obscure motorsports, along with engine covers, seats and odd component parts haphazardly squashed next to one another. All three women could only think about how much Dean would have loved it here, and how much Sam would have despaired: they all smiled to themselves at the thought.

Finally, the door came into view. It was frozen all over the door, except at the edges where it had begun to defrost and the wood had begun to rot. Jodie picked up her walkie,

"We've found the door, it's frozen over: this is the place. Can you check CCTV?"

"'Fraid not", Charlie said over the walkie, "It's down."

"Of course it is", replied Jodie, with a sarcasm filled tone. Just as she said this, the alarm stopped. This was simultaneously a relief and a worrisome development, as it meant the ghosts were regrouping.

After a moment's hesitation in front of the door, Linda reached out and turned the handle. The door wasn't locked.

She pushed the door open. The hinges creaked ominously, like they might in a horror film with terrible production value (_All of them then _thought Jodie), she reeled at the irony of the whole situation.

The door opened slowly, to reveal a room with white sheets on the floor and covering a menagerie of shapes throughout. A distinct stench of paint filled their nostrils, and one single light illuminated the dust floating through the air. It would have seemed calm under different circumstances.

Buckets of white emulsion were grouped in one corner, whilst paint brushes and rollers lay all along the bottom of the walls. Ladders, wooden planks and other miscellaneous building materials lay throughout the room.

At first glance, there was no box to be seen, but that was to be expected.

The three of them, marched into the room and immediately began ripping the white sheets off of the shaped that filled the room; searching. Yet more engines and other motoring based items were uncovered. Linda was baffled as to how there were this many supposedly museum worthy items in the world, let alone just this one place in a small town in South Dakota.

They continued to take the sheets off, until Krissy came upon a smaller square case towards the back of the large room. She took the sheet off, and instead of finding a glass case as she expected, instead there was a large metal box, which could only have been iron. Krissy lowered her shoulders unhappily and let out a sigh,

"Nothing over here, but a big iron box. Not exactly useful for a ghost is it?"

Jodie glanced over, "Wait. Open it, they might be clever."

Krissy opened the box, and was surprised to find another intricately carved wooden box inside. She held it up for Jodie and Linda to see, an astonished look on her face.

"Well I never", said Linda.

"Obviously they don't trust their own", said Jodie, "right, let's burn this mother-"

Jodie, Krissy and Linda were thrown backwards against the wall, the box, shotguns, lighters and walkies were thrown across the into the wall on the opposite side.

"Not so fast sunshine", said wannabe Bobby Singer to Krissy, "now what shall we do with you?".

At that moment, all the ghosts from the storage room appeared around them.

_Oh god, this is like a corny TV horror show again, this is just getting old _thought Krissy.


	14. A Visitor

"Ow! Rude!", replied Krissy, completely fed up with these pesky ghosts constantly getting in the way. She wondered how Sam and Dean had not died of annoyance after all this time.

Jodie glanced across the room at the far wall where the walkie, the box and the other hunters necessities lay - well out of reach of the women. However, she noticed something was up with the walkie, a green light was lit next to the speaker.

Jodie turned to the ghost with a smirk and said,

"Well, you've finally got us pinned against a wall, congratulations. Now what?"

"Now we kill you", said the little regulation uniformed boy as he stumbled out of the veil towards the hunters.

"Oh. I have to say I'm disappointed, I was hoping it to be something more exciting, like letting us join your little ghostly frat society", replied Jodie.

"Well, if you'd like, you can join your friend. Annie was it? Well, we have her trapped nicely in a ring of salt far, far from here. We do have some conditions though, I mean, firstly you're still alive."

Krissy had been looking at Jodie the whole time and new the smile that resided on her face meant she had a plan. She sighed,

"Oh that's such a shame!", said Krissy with exaggerated disappointed and a hint of sarcasm, "Y'know, I've always wanted to be in a ghostly frat group? I tell you what, when I was younger, every time any adult asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I always said, 'Hey, I'd love to be in a gang of ghosts, murdering hunters and stashing trinkets but they always said-'".

"ENOUGH!", cried the Bobby Singer lookalike in a voice that sent a blast of cold air through the room, "I've heard enough, now you will die."

The whole time this was happening, Linda's heart was pounding in her chest, she was very aware of the ring around her neck and she thought of Kevin. Mostly, however she was wondering what on Earth the other two were doing.

"Wait!", Linda blurted out. Krissy and Jodie snapped their heads to look at her, their eyes wide with surprise.

"Yes?", said the schoolboy, whilst around him, more and more ghosts materialised.

"Um... It's just, what kind of school was this to let all these students and teachers die? Why would you want to stay here?"

The ghosts around them all of sudden looked very confused at this development in the conversation, and a bubble of conversation started amongst the army.

"We're not _all_ from this school you know", replied a lady in a pencil skirt, blouse, suit jacket and broken heels, "I was just from Sioux Falls and when I died, my son brought my necklace to school and lost it here."

"Ok... But still, why don't you grab your trinkets and go? Return to wherever you were happiest, and maybe then you can move on?"

The Bobby Singer lookalike, became less like the old drunk and more and more like a twisted wax figure. His face turned greyer, his eyes began to light up and his face contorted into a snarl as he moved slowly towards Linda,

"I said enough", he said in a tone full of malice.

In her bravest possible voice, Krissy piped up,

"She has a point wouldn't you want to go too?"

In a split second, the ghost turned towards Krissy and headed full pelt towards her in streak of grey smoke, the horror in Jodie, Krissy and Linda's eyes was obvious. As the ghost got closer, Krissy turned her head and shut her eyes tight.

At the last second, every ghost surrounding the hunters, from every corner of the room began to scream. Simultaneously each ghost turned into a running, screaming ball of fire until one by one they disappeared into nothingness - including the school gardener.

The three hunters dropped to the floor, Krissy still with her eyes held tightly shut. When she eventually opened them, she saw Jodie and Linda running across the room to where Annie and Charlie were standing next to a now burning pile of old trinkets.

"It's very lucky that walkie likes to turn itself on, I heard everything and came running to get you and found this one on the way", she jerked her thumb towards Annie who was stood next to her, looking as pale as ever but with a grin on her face.

"Well then, mission accomplished", said Krissy, desperately trying to hid the quiver in her voice.

Slowly, the warmth was beginning to return to the room, and they could hear the sound of the ice defrosting on the windows as a loud cracking sound. Over the cracking, they would hear police sirens and knew that was their signal to go.

They ran through the way they came, only stopping to grab Charlie as she attempted to apologise to the very ill-looking and confused security guard.

Laughing, Krissy ran ahead to the pick-up and jumped in the back,

"Come on ladies, let's go!"

Blue lights approached from the distance, and Jodie jumped in the front, and slammed the pedal down as they stormed out of the car park and into the night.

"I'm home!", Jodie said as she walked into her log cabin just outside Sioux Falls.

Alex, her adopted daughter, ex-vampire and hunter in training emerged from her room and Jodie smiled and walked towards her with open arms, but Alex's face said otherwise.

"What is it?", asked Jodie worriedly.

"There's someone here", she replied.

Out of Alex's room emerged a small-ish girl with long blonde curly hair, dressed mostly in black, carrying a small backpack and a stuffed cat, which she thought she recognised from Alex's Facebook account.

Jodie looked concernedly at their new guest.

"Hi", she said, "I'm Claire. Castiel sent me, he said you could help."


End file.
